American teen sailor reunited with brother

Posted: Sunday, June 27, 2010

By Associated Press

SAINT-DENIS, Reunion - Sixteen-year-old Californian sailor Abby Sunderland got a big hug from her older brother Saturday on the appropriately named Reunion Island, and again defended her family for letting her try to sail around the world alone.

Though saddened by the loss of her boat in an Indian Ocean storm, Sunderland said she isn't giving up sailing.

"I'm really disappointed that things didn't go as planned," Sunderland told reporters after coming to shore early Saturday on the remote French island of Reunion, located in the waters near southeastern Africa.

Massive waves snapped her boat's mast June 10, and she was rescued in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean two days later by a French fishing boat. It took two weeks more at sea to reach Reunion, from which she plans to fly home today.

"Any sailor that goes out to the water knows that being hit by a rogue wave is a risk, no matter where you are," said Sunderland, flanked by her 18-year-old brother Zac, who flew to Reunion to meet her. "That was a risk that I was willing to take."

Sunderland said she was as well-prepared as she could have been.

"You can't eliminate risk, you can do a lot to minimize it but it's always there," Sunderland said.

Australia and France worked together to rescue the American teenager - and they footed the bills for chartering jets to find her and diverting boats to her.